Sporting event image capture, processing and publication

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods and software are disclosed for capturing and/or importing and processing media items such as digital images or video ( 202 ) associated with a sporting event such as a marathon or bicycle race (FIG.  3 ). The media items are processed, including bib number or facial recognition if necessary ( 204, 206, 504 ), to associate them with an individual participant. Other input sources may include spectator uploads ( 506 ), external web sites and media sharing ( 508 ) or soda! networking ( 510 ) services. The system ( 500 ) aggregates, organizes and generates content, and distributes it ( 580 ) via various output channels, which may include event web sites ( 256 ), personal feeds ( 250 ), and other output channels ( 260, 254, 252 , FIG.  4 ). Preferably, selected content is associated with at least one individual participant in the event, and that content is automatically distributed to channels that are associated with that individual participant.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No.61/140,810 filed Dec. 24, 2008 and incorporated herein by thisreference.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

© 2008-2009 Strands, Inc. A portion of the disclosure of this patentdocument contains material which is subject to copyright protection. Thecopyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyoneof the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in thePatent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwisereserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 37 CFR §1.71(d).

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention pertains to methods and apparatus for on-line collection,aggregation, analysis and distribution of media items such as images andvideo associated with sporting events and with individual participantsin such events.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains to athletic or sporting events,especially those that involve individuals or small groups ofparticipants—for example a cross-country or marathon runner forillustration. Each runner in this example has an identifier thatdistinguishes her from the other runners in the same event.Traditionally, this identifier comprises a “bib number,” meaning anumber (usually an integer, but it may be alpha-numeric or any otherdefined symbol) that is printed on a placard that in turn can be pinned,clipped or otherwise attached to the runner's clothing so that the bibnumber is visible to an observer during the sporting event. Such aplacard is usually made of a flexible but preferably durable,waterproof, material. It may be suspended, for example around the user'sneck or arm, rather than attached to the clothing. Alternatively, or inaddition, the bib number may be attached to the participant's bicycle,boat, motorcycle, or other equipment.

It is known to provide sporting event photographs after the event forinspection, selection and distribution via a computer network. Typicallyphotographs are taken, and bib numbers are recognized by human visualinspection. Those numbers can be associated with a roster (or database)of participants in the event. The photographs (actually digital filescontaining the photographic content) are transferred to a computernetwork server, and access to the server enables the participants orothers to browse the photos, order prints, etc.

According to U.S. Pat. No. 6,985,875 the identifying data can include aname of an event participant, a number corresponding to a number worn bythe event participant, the date and time the photograph was taken, or acode captured from a component as it passes a sensor. Such a componentcan be passive or active and can include a bar code, inductive device,RFD tag or an electronic transmitting device which is worn by the eventparticipant. The event participants may be informed of the identifyingdata by posting the identifying data associated with each photograph sothat it is made available to the participants of the event (or friendsand family) for later use in searching the server. The photographs arecataloged in the server according to the identifying data and can besubsequently ordered using the server which is typically an Internetweb-site.

The prior art is lacking in several respects. For example, recognizingbib numbers by human observation is time consuming and expensive.Imagine the effort to sort out thousands of images of thousands ofrunners in the New York Marathon. Another difficulty is that even ifpictures are matched to a participant, the location where the picturewas taken is often unknown, unless a person who took the picture recordsand provides the location data, or an observer of the picture happens torecognize the location in the picture. A user of a social networking website, for example Facebook®, can manually upload and “tag” a photo withdescriptive information, but this process is cumbersome and may not bereliable. In general, random photos of an event may be interesting,especially to the participants, and perhaps her family members orteammates, but their utility is limited without associating reliabletime, location and route information. The present invention, in variousembodiments, seeks to provide novel products and services by combininginputs from various data sources, and processing the inputs in new ways.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following is a summary of the invention in order to provide a basicunderstanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is notintended to identify key/critical elements of the invention or todelineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to presentsome concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to themore detailed description that is presented later.

In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method calls for receivingdigital image input files, still or video, from at least one inputsource, and storing the input files in memory. Preferably, each inputfile includes a digital image showing at least one person who isparticipating in a selected sporting event at the time the image wascaptured. The method includes processing an uploaded image so as tomachine-recognize a bib number worn by a person in the image, or therespective bib numbers worn by several people. By accessing a databaseof participants in the sporting event, and or an event database, aserver can automatically associate the image with one or more individualparticipant(s) by matching the machine-recognized bib number(s) torecord(s) in the database. This feature contrasts with prior art, e.g.social networking sites, where photographs or other media must bemanually associated with a user or other persons. In another embodiment,the location and time associated with a photo may be used to search adatabase of events to identify the corresponding event.

The method further calls for accessing data defining a route of thesporting event; and determining a location along the route where theimage of the participant was captured. Then the system generates outputincluding, in an embodiment, at least one photo and/or video thatincludes an image of the associated individual and wherein the outputcontent includes an indication of a location along the route where thephoto or video was captured. For example, a route map may be displayed,with the photo of the participant superimposed on the route map, with apointer to the location where the photo was taken.

In a preferred embodiment, the method further includes electronicallydistributing the digital output content to at least one of an event website, the associated participant's personal space at a social networkingsite, and via the user's personal feed.

In another aspect, an embodiment of the invention aggregates media items(text, photos, video) from a wide variety of sources to paint a moreengaging, robust and socially interactive collage of an event, such as amarathon. For example, photos or other media from friends, spectators,other web sites, even participants themselves are assembled at a commonsite for archiving and or distribution to the public. The various inputitems can be historic (pre-existing before an event), real-time(generated during the event), or uploaded and added to the site afterthe fact.

On the distribution side, content including data, media items, etc. maybe distributed into a variety of existing Web 2.0 applications. Unlikeconventional broadcast media such as television, the content provided bythe present system is no longer limited to a few highlights of an event,or clips of a few famous athletes in action. Rather, many or even everyindividual participant in an event can be identified, and theirindividual information (photos, scores, results, video clips, etc.) canbe distributed to all who are interested, in an interactive andcompelling manner.

Additional aspects and advantages of this invention will be apparentfrom the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, whichproceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating aspects of oneembodiment of a process in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating aspects of anotherembodiment of a process in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a route map sample output content in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a web page sample output content in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a simplified functional diagram of a web-based system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Returning to the cross-country race example, we assume a throng ofrunners, each having a bib number as discussed. Preferably, the bibnumber or symbol should be machine-readable. That is, an image of thebib number, e.g. captured with a camera, should be usable in an OCR(optical character recognition) system or the like. In an alternativeembodiment, the bib may include an invisible indicator of the bibnumber, for example an RFID tag embedded in the bib. In that case, asuitable sensor or transceiver can capture the bib number from the RFDtag while the runner passes by the sensor.

Machine recognition of visible bib numbers may be used to advantage asfollows. In some cases, a digital image (photograph) may be processedpreliminarily to recognize a person; that is, distinguish a person inthe image from the background. Person recognition is known in otherapplications, such as premises security systems that employ real-timevideo surveillance. In this regard, a video clip, rather than a stillimage, may be advantageous. Video coding techniques are known thatseparate moving or changing regions of an image from static ones. Thesetechniques may be applied to more easily machine-recognize a personregion in a digital image or video.

In other cases, separate recognition of a person may be unnecessary, andthe process goes directly to locating the bib. Common bib locations arethe chest, center of back, or low back of a runner or cyclist. Most bibnumber placards are rectangular. Based on size, shape and location, acomputer-implemented process can identify likely candidates for the bibplacard region. Multiple candidate regions may be captured, and storedfor further processing, as discussed later. In one alternativeembodiment, a special marking or symbol can be printed on the bib tomake machine-recognition of the bib easier and more reliable.

In an embodiment, a character or symbol recognition process is appliedto the candidate bib region of the digital image in an effort torecognize the bib number. In an embodiment, a machine learning methodmay be used to train a system for recognizing bib numbers. Characterrecognition techniques (OCR) are known in other applications such asprocessing images that contain text. OCR is also well developed, forexample, in mail sorting machines such as those used by the US PostalService to “read” addresses on paper mail pieces. To support thiseffort, in an embodiment, the character recognition processing machine(or software) may be coupled to a database that stores information oneach of the participants, keyed by bib number. In this way, all validbib numbers are known to the recognition system. This data can be usedto resolve ambiguous characters in the recognition process. By knowingall valid combinations of characters from the database, a most likelysolution of the actual characters in an image can be determined quickly.Using any or all of these techniques, the system automaticallyassociates a bib number/name to a user.

In the case of a video clip, additional images (immediately adjacent tothe one in question) can be processed to further assist indisambiguating the bib number. In the example of RFID or other suchelectronic “tag,” the identifier is acquired at the same time as thephotograph, and the two are associated together in a suitable Datastore.Even in that case, the electronic identifier may be corrupted orincomplete. It too may be recoverable by processing availableinformation in conjunction with the participant database.

In another alternative, facial or object recognition software may beincluded to recognize a person when the bib number is occluded orotherwise not recognized. One technique is to match a picture withanother picture in which the same person appears with a readable bibnumber. Other embodiments may include the following:

1) Having just a bib number in a database a priori, capturing a faceimage from an image in which the bib number is recognized, and thenusing that captured face image to recognize images that contain eitherthe face, the bib number, or both (i.e. in particular recognize imagesthat contain the face regardless of whether the bib number may or maynot be unrecognizable.)

2) Having a face image and a bib number in a database a priori, andusing either (or both) to recognize images that contain either the face,the bib number, or both.

3) Having just a face image in a database a priori, and then using thatto recognize images that include the face image and extracting bibnumbers from the image that might then be used to recognize images thatcontain either the face, the bib number, or both.

Technology for recognizing faces in still images including video framesis now common and can be used as a building block for identifying peoplein an image from an event as an alternative to bib number recognition.Because bib number recognition is conceptually simpler than facerecognition, bib recognition strategies for identifying raceparticipants in a still image might be described and claimed a lowerlevel of algorithmic abstraction than facial recognition strategies.Normative bib recognition strategies would seek to identify digits andgroup them into bib numbers without reference to any data circumscribingthe set of potential bib numbers. Comparative bib recognitionstrategies, in contrast, would incorporate the set of potential bibnumbers in an event into the recognition algorithm to improve therecognition accuracy.

Due to the computational burden and the conceptual challenge of defininga set of facial attributes that can be easily associated with a userwithout reference to example images as a bib number can, such as when auser registers to participate in an event, facial recognition strategieswould typically be comparative. That is, a target image including one ormore individuals would be compared to one or more reference images ofsingle individuals who might be in the target image. This comparisoncould be direct, in the sense that the reference images are matchedagainst the target image somehow. The comparison could also be indirectin the sense that a set of reference and potential facial attributes areextracted from the reference and target images, respectively, and thereference facial attributes then compared to the potential facialattributes for possible matches.

Regardless of the comparison model, there are also a couple of possiblerecognition strategies. One strategy assumes that one or more knownreference images are available for each individual that may potentiallyappear in a target image. Each reference image is compared to the targetimage to arrive at an estimated confidence value that the person in thereference image appears in the target image.

Another strategy assumes that a name or an equivalent identifier isknown for each individual that may potentially appear in a target imageand that a library of reference images labeled by name or an equivalentidentifier. In this strategy the identifier for each individual that maypotentially appear in a target image is used to retrieve images from thereference image library for those individuals. Those reference imagesare then used as in the first strategy to compute an estimatedconfidence value that the person in each reference image appears in thetarget image.

Data Sources

For a given event such as a footrace, event data, route data and runnerdata are prepared and stored in digital form for processing as furtherdescribed below. The data can be organized, keyed, sorted, and orrelated in various ways, but the following simple data structures areillustrative. Additional databases are described later with regard toFIG. 5. Details of data storage systems and memory are known so detailsare omitted herein. In Table 1, an event database or table isillustrated by way of example and not limitation. The fields areself-explanatory. Various searching, matching or fuzzy logic techniquescan be used in later processing for accessing this database to identifyan event, for example from a bib number recognized in a submittedphotograph. The “Participants” field preferably is not literally a listof the participants in the event, but rather a fink to a Participantsdatabase, discussed below. In a presently preferred embodiment of asystem in accordance with the present invention, the event database isaccessible to a central server system, of the type known for hosting anInternet web site.

TABLE 1 Sample Event Database. Event Start Sponsor Start RouteParticipants Results Name date/time Location

A participant database, also accessible to a central server, may includethe illustrative data shown in Table 2 below. Users or participants neednot be registered in the database prior to the event. In a preferredembodiment, participants can be added at any time—before, during orafter a race. Names and bib numbers are automatically associated withthe corresponding participant whenever that person's data is entered inthe database. So, for example, a user might access the system after arace, introduce an event and bib number, and the system can conduct asearch or database query, and retrieve all of the pictures associated tothe new bib number (or links to them). A sample race registrationdatabase follows in Table 3. Again, these various tables may be linked,indexed and or associated in various ways.

TABLE 2 Sample Participant Database. Chip code Bib FirstName LastNameDOB Gender Email Event or RID

TABLE 3 Sample Race Registration Database. Name Email Address CSZ DOBAge Emergency Contacts Reg Date Event RID

Additional information may be provided by a participant duringregistration, or subsequently acquired and stored in association with acorresponding participant subsequently. For example, a registrant mayprovide (upload) an image of herself during a registration process, forvarious uses including facial recognition/matching with other mediaitems acquired from other sources.

Routes can be defined in various ways. For example, a race organizer maypublish a conventional map, marked up or annotated to show a race route.Such a map may be stored and distributed, for example as a simple pdffile. Details of the route, in machine-readable form, may be embedded inlayers of the pdf file. Routes may also be defined by a stored datastructure or list, for example, as a series of locations or “waypoints”arranged in the sequence of the race route. Waypoints can be defined aslandmarks (“the water fountain at 3d and Iditarod Streets”), orgeo-locations such as LAT, LON, and ALT. This data can be acquiredeasily with even consumer grade GPS equipment, or publicly availabledatabases. Data should be stored in a route database in machine-usableform. For example, a process should be able to find the closest pointalong a given event route, given an input location. In one embodiment,the input location is provided in association with a photo taken alongthe route. The location of the photo (i.e., the geographic location ofthe scene in the photo content) may be provided manually by input by thephotographer, or automatically as follows.

In some arrangements, the Photos field, for example, may includepointers or UIDs or URL or URI to individual photos, or simply a link toa directory, linked list, etc. Various ways to store and access suchdata are known to those skilled in computer and Internet technologies.See Table 4 below.

TABLE 4 Sample Photo Database. RID Photos (registrant ID)

Illustrative Procedures

Capture. In operation, a computer-implemented process carried out in orcoupled to a server, receives content, for example still photos or videodips, from “input sources”. The input sources may be capture deviceslocated along the route of an event. They may be automated, remotelycontrolled, or operated by an observer along the route. These remotedevices include a digital camera or the like for capturing/creatingphotos or video clips showing participants “in action” during the event.The devices may be pre-positioned or installed at selected locationsalong the route. Those at fixed locations may be arranged to take photosat predetermined times or intervals. Preferably, however, the inputdevices are portable electronic devices, such as a PDA, Blackberry,iPhone, gPhone or the like. The operator(s) of the portable devicesalong the route (“Spectators”) may be friends and family of eventparticipants, amateur photographers, or any interested individuals.

The remote devices may comprise any device capable of creating a digitalimage, such as a photo or video clip, and transmitting a file containingthe image content, such as a jpeg, mpeg or other file format, to theserver. Preferably, the picture file is transmitted over a wirelessnetwork, to enable the picture taker to be mobile. For example, thewireless network may be a 3G wireless telecommunications network. Thepicture capture and wireless transmission functions may be integratedinto a single multi-function device, or they may be separate devicescoupled together, for example by cable or a short-range wireless link(Bluetooth). Photos or other media (video clips, audio recordings) canbe uploaded to the server at any time during or after the race.

In addition, the server may be arranged to “crawl” other photo sitessuch as Flickr to retrieve additional photos, associated with the eventor with an individual participant. More detail is given below. Othersources are described below with regard to FIG. 5.

In a preferred embodiment, a remote device such as a smart phoneexecutes a small application program to implement the functionalitydescribed herein. After an image is captured, the application managesuploading the image to the server. The application first tags each imagewith a date/time stamp. The application also tags each image withlocation data, for example acquired via a GPS receiver, which may beintegrated into or coupled to the portable device. Alternatively, a usermay enter location information manually for tagging a photo.Accordingly, during an event, the server is receiving image content froma plurality of spectators along the event route in near-real time. Inanother aspect, a user may upload media items at his convenience, forexample from a home computer, after the event. This may include, forexample, posting content to Facebook, to a Flick account, via RSS feed,etc.

Website API Models

Many web 2.0 websites like Flickr®, Facebook®, Twitter®, and Linkedln®provide “application programming interfaces” (APIs) that allow anotherwebsite or webservice to access user data. Some embodiments of thepresent invention make employ such APIs to find and import media itemsas described herein. There are at least two ways for a second website toaccess to user data on a first website via an API such as this. In thefirst method, the user provides the user's access credentials to thesecond website, and that second website then retrieves data from thefirst website by providing the user's credentials to the first website.

In the second method, the user typically indicates to the second websitehe or she has data on the first website, the second website thenredirects the user client (frequently a browser) to an authenticationmeans on first website. The user then provides the credentials directlyto the first website. The first website authenticates the user andredirects the user's browser back to the second website along with a newcredential. The second website then uses the new credential to accessthe user's data on the first website. FaceBook Connect is a proprietarysolution that works in this manner to provide a second website access toa FaceBook user's identity, social graph, and stream information.LinkedIn uses the OAuth, an open source version of this authenticationmodel, to provide a second website access to a LinkedIn user's data.

Digital Media Item Sharing Service Search Models

A digital media item sharing service/website such as Flickr invariablyprovides multiple means for a user to find media items of interestcontributed by all users. There are at least two ways that are quitecommon. The first is to allow contributing users to create an accountdedicated to a specific topic, event, or user. In this case, the searchmeans simply provides a way for a consuming user to specify identifyinginformation for that dedicated account and then provides the user withaccess to the content associated with the account.

The second is to allow the contributing and/or consuming users to tagmedia items with labels that describe or identify the items. Suchtagging may be done regardless of how items are categorized intoaccounts. For this case, the search means allow the user to specify tagsand then provides the user with access to digital media items labeledwith that tag. As noted, digital media item sharing websites typicallyalso provide APIs that a second website can use to access contributeddigital media items using either of these search models.

Various features and aspects of the invention may be implemented in ahost computer, server, virtual server, cluster, etc. Details of suchhardware and related software are known elsewhere. For simplicity, werefer herein to a server implementation, although that term is usedbroadly, and is not limited to a single host; nor is any limitation onits location implied.

Processing Imported Media Items. At the server, various processes may becarried out. They may be done roughly in the order shown below, althoughin some embodiments, certain processes may be executed concurrently. Insome embodiments, some steps may be omitted. For larger systems or largeevents, distributed processing, clusters or other forms or parallelprocessing may be advantageous.

FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment as follows. At block 102, participantshave been tagged with bib numbers as discussed above, prior to startingthe event. As noted, individuals' data may be entered before, during, orafter an event. During the event, such as a footrace, spectators maytake (digital) pictures of participants along the route, block 104. Asmentioned, in one embodiment, spectators employ a portable device thatincludes a digital image capture capability, as well as the ability toexecute a small application program. At block 106, the spectator usesthe application to upload the picture(s). Preferably, a wirelessconnection may be used to upload the pictures, for example using thewireless telecom network. Alternatively, short-range wirelessconnections may be used, such as Bluetooth® transceivers, to upload thepictures via an intermediary facility provided along the route. Theapplication program may tag each picture or batch of pictures withlocation and time.

In an embodiment, the pictures are tagged automatically with a timestampin the server, block 108. Pictures may include a timestamp applied bythe capture device, but they may not be accurate. Pictures also may betagged with a location. For example, in an embodiment, the capturedevice may include a GPS receiver, and the application may includelocation data acquired from the GPS in the picture upload. In analternative, a marker with a number or other symbol may be placed alongthe route and the picture taken at such a location so that the symbolappears in the picture, available for machine recognition and lookup todetermine the location at which the picture was taken. The pictures areuploaded to a server, block 112. Further with regard to FIG. 1, theserver identifies the bib number in the picture, using various meansincluding but not limited to those described above, or equivalentsthereof, block 114. For images where bib number recognition provesdifficult, those images may be off-loaded to an alternative processwhich may be more capable of recognition but at a higher computationalcost.

As noted earlier, the server has access to a database of events, block116. For example, in one embodiment, the database includes, for eachevent, the corresponding location, start time, and route; illustrated atblock 118 and the table above. Then the server, at block 120, matchesthe picture location and time against the database of events. This maynot be a separate step. In some embodiments, the event may be determinedby the bib number. In an alternative embodiment, the event may beidentified explicitly by the spectator or in picture metadata providedby the portable application.

At block 122, the server software then places the picture at thecorresponding location along the route. The photos can be located alongthe route by using spectators' and system devices that have GPScapability. Alternatively, a location along a route may be described bya street intersection, landmark name or other keyword(s), or mile (km)marker on the route. An example is illustrated in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, amap display 300 indicates the event route 302 (by color, boldface, etc.)A photo, shown in thumbnail 304, is graphically associated to a locationon the route by dashed line 306. The picture may be sized as appropriatefor display on the route map. Additional information may be displayed byclicking an indicator (“I”) at 310. For example, a click at 310 maypresent another panel 320 to display various information associated withthe photo. Or just “mousing over” the photo may invoke the supplementalpanel. The panel preferably includes the user bib number, event, timeand location data associated with the photo. The participant may selectwhether or not to publish her name on a public site. In an embodiment,an option to purchase a photo may be invoked, for example by clicking apurchase button (“P”) 330. Terms of purchase are discussed later. Thisis just one example of various output content, further described below.

Referring again to FIG. 1, in an embodiment, the server may assemblemultiple pictures of the same participant (bib number) into a set; block124. The digital images need not be physically or literally assembled inmemory, but merely associated in the database, for example using tags,pointers, links or lists, or other software techniques. As discussedbelow, these images (or video) may be aggregated from a variety ofexternal sources such a social networking sites. This has the advantageof bringing a more egalitarian perspective, as distinguished fromtraditional, professional sports reporting or network news casting. Seesample image lookup table below. These sets of pictures, alone or withother content, may be published or distributed so that they areavailable to interested users, for example via the Internet. They mayalso be displayed, for example in the form of a slideshow, on one ormore video display screens. The video displays may be located at remotelocations, and or at the event forum, finish line, etc. Preferably, avery large display is visible to a large audience. Audio may be providedas well—collected in a manner similar to that described below foraggregating visual (photo and video) media items.

FIG. 2 illustrates aspects of other embodiments, as follows. A photo,video or other digital content is received from an input source, atblock 202. Various sources are described above. The system or processrecognizes a bib or other UID number, block 204. Then the photo or othercontent is associated with a participant in a database based on thatidentification, block 206. Optionally, the content may be matched to aspecific location on the event route, as described above, block 208. Theserver may generate output content, block 210, based on the receivedinput content, participant database content, and optionally othersources.

Content Creation and Output Channels

The specific location data of each image may be associated to a chart,map or digital image of the course. See FIG. 3. In one embodiment, eachimage of a selected participant is associated to a specific locationalong the course. Other output content can be created and published asexplained below. For example, referring again to FIG. 2, output contentmay include individual images sets 220—comprising all images of aselected participant, or a selected group of participants, or images ofall participants at a given location along the event route. Other outputcontent may comprise team image sets 222, route map composites 224, forexample as in FIG. 3, image sets by location 226, video output 228, andother versions of map outputs 230. Video content can be selected andorganized in much the same manner as still photos.

Any or all such output content can be published at an event web site256, or via each user's personal space at a social networking site 254,and or via the user's personal feed 250 or personal site 252, or to acommunity electronic display screen 260. Access to various externalsites may be effected by use of various API's, or by using aparticipant's login credentials provided at registration. FIG. 4 is asimplified illustration of a personal web site of a runner, to whichgenerated output content of a running event has been published.

TABLE 4 Sample image Set Table Columbus Marathon Barcelona, Spain Jul.22, 2008 Start 10:00 25 km run Participant: Francesca Gomez MartinelliLOCATION TIME (LON, LAT, ALT) SHOW ON MAP IMAGE 10:00 2.20 41.40 95<link> link <020.jpg> [See drawing] 10:04 2.21 41.39 100 <link> link<334.jpg> 10:18 2.21 41.38 150 <link> link <8589.jpg> 10:55 2.20 41.41110 <link> link <m8589.mpg> 11:08 2.19 41.55 72 <link> link <244.jpg>

In another aspect, images are accessed through in interactive graphic ormap of the event route (see drawing), rather than a textualpresentation. In other aspects, the system can sort images by timestampto form a timeline. The timeline can show images of one or more selectedparticipants. The corresponding images can be published as an attractive“slideshow”. In another embodiment, the disclosed system can associatethe timeline with course, distances, mileposts, landmarks. Suchinformation also can be used to search for or browse images. In anotherembodiment, the pictures could be published in a feed produced by thephotographer, or by all the photographer's collectively on the site, forconsumption by others, too. The foregoing examples are merelyillustrative of the inventive concepts and are not intended to belimiting of its scope. Other details and variations will become apparentto those skilled in the art in view of this disclosure.

Bookmarking and social networking sites, such as Reddit, Facebook,Stumbleupon, Blinklist, Manolia, Digg, Delicious, Newsvine, Furl andStrands are known. At these web sites, users can share content withothers (e.g. authorized “friends”), comment on other postings, etc.Internet “Feeds” such as RSS are becoming common as well. RSS (Rich SiteSummary) (or Really Simple Syndication) is a format for deliveringregularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs andother online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed towhoever wants it. RSS feeds thus provide a relatively spam-free, quickand efficient way to read news and weblogs. The present invention in apreferred embodiment integrates into a user's outbound feed for sharingpersonal sporting event content in a compelling and timely manner. Suchcontent may include, but is not limited to, data, text, graphics, images(still or video), links, etc.

In one embodiment, the present service/server creates an RSS feed ofitems, each of which includes a URL for the pictures stored on theserver, and the runner's Strands.com (or other site) system is directedto monitor that RSS feed. In this case, in effect the URLs (RSS feeditems) for all pictures would be going to each user's account that ismonitoring the feed. In another embodiment, the server might create anRSS feed for each runner, and the runner's Strands.com or other socialnetworking account would just monitor the RSS feed for that runner. Theserver then would put the picture in the right feed for the runner andthe runner's Strands.com account would then only be receiving URLs (RSSfeed items) for pictures for that runner. Of course, for the pictures toactually be displayed to the runner in this model, the Strands.comsystem would have to look at the URLs in the feed items and request thepictures from the server for display to the runner.

In another embodiment, for example to interface with a FaceBook orsimilar account, the server may use one of the FaceBook APIs, and wouldemploy the user's FaceBook credentials to publish the pictures to theuser's FaceBook account. These postings are not necessarily limited toonly pictures. For example, a URL may be provided that links to a map orgraphic of the event course, as mentioned above. That map, in turn, mayinclude images, or it may be interactive in the sense of presentinglinks to individual images, preferably associated with specificlocations along the course as discussed above.

Conversely, feeds from an external site, e.g. Flickr, may be used toimport content to the present system. In general, the aforementioned andother Web 2.0 technologies can interface with elements of the presentinvention to enable and enhance interaction among athletes and thebroader community. This aggregation feature is illustrated in FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is a simplified functional diagram of a web-based system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. A server 500 maybe configured to provide the following functionality. For example, thismay be a web server or it may be coupled to a web server. A variety ofintake interfaces 502 are provided for interfacing with various externalsources. For example, spectators 506 who attend a given event may electto upload photos or other media items to the server 500 via anappropriate interface 502. As another source, a photo website such asFlickr 508 may be used as another source of media items associated witha given event. The server 500 can be configured to “crawl” Flickr orother social networking websites 510 to identify and upload suchcontent. In addition, professional photographers 512 may choose toupload their photos, again through an appropriate intake interface 502,for online sales described below. In the case of social networking siteFacebook, members can “push” media, called sharing, to make it availableto non-members. In this regard, such photos can be imported to theserver 500 without the use of Facebook member credentials. In short, theweb server includes software components for aggregating content fromvarious external sources, by push and or pull methods.

In another embodiment, a user account may be established at Flickr oranother media item sharing site for a specific event. Media itemsassociated with that event can then be uploaded from various sources,for example participants or spectators, to the corresponding site, againusing Flickr as an example without limitation. The server system 500 canbe configured to download media items from that site. Since the site isevent-specific, correlation to the event is inherent. API access isdescribed above.

Referring again to FIG. 5, members 522 also can interact with the server500 with the use of an appropriate interface. The term “members” is usedhere to mean users who are registered with the website 500, andtherefore have corresponding log in credentials. Members may also beparticipants in a given event. In the server 500, the various mediaitems imported through interfaces 502 are processed in a bibnumber/facial image matching process 504, described in more detailabove. Next, various data processes take place, block 520, includingassociating bib numbers with corresponding photos (other media items),locations along a route, photographers, etc. In this regard, the server500 may include or have access to an event registration service 530.Event registration data bases are discussed above.

The data processing module, block 520 is enabled in part through accessto various data bases. This is accomplished through a data basemaintenance, block 550, which may include various known databasemaintenance and or query techniques and services. The server 500 hasaccess through appropriate interfaces to an events and participants database 532, aspects of which were discussed above. It also has access to adata base 534, member accounts, which may include various personal data,preferences, history, etc.

Another data base 540 stores photographer accounts. In this regard,photographers 512 may establish an account in order to upload theirphotos, associated with a corresponding event(s) for distributionthrough the server 500. In this regard, the server may include a mediaonline sales service 562 which enables users (through the publicinterface 590) to search for photos or other media, view thumbnailimages, etc. Users may then elect to purchase media items for download,from the media item data store 560, through the online sales service562. The sales service implements terms of sales that are determined inthe photographers account settings in database 540, for example pricing,format conversion, resolution, delivery options. There may also beprovision for copyright licensing, granted by the photographer, throughthe web server. These features may relieve photographers from the burdenof building their own sites for direct content sales. The present sitemay be expected to attract a wide audience, well beyond the actual eventparticipants, with the corresponding potential for more sales than aphotographer might achieve marketing directly to the participants alone.That said, in another embodiment, the server may provide a link to thephotographer's site, as illustrated in the panel 320 of the map displayof FIG. 3. Users may follow the link and purchase the correspondingphotograph. A commission may be returned to the site 500 proprietor inconsideration of the referral. Returning to FIG. 5, Member services,block 570, provides typical services for members 522, such asregistration and maintenance of user accounts.

A key aspect of the server 500 is the distribution services 580, whichmay be implemented using any appropriate website software technology.The distribution services provides an interface for interested persons,especially participants, to explore the media items and informationregarding events of interest that have been aggregated by the serversystem 500 from a variety of external sources such as those mentionedabove. Users of the website can conveniently search for events ofinterest, or participants of interest. They may explore the route, forexample using an interactive map such as that illustrated in FIG. 3, toidentify locations of interest and corresponding photographs or othermedia items. Users may also explore race recap and results information.Other aspects of the distribution services 580 were discussed above withregard to FIG. 2. In another aspect, the community generated contentdescribed above can be assembled, sorted, filtered and distributed intoany existing Web 2.0 application.

It will be obvious to those having skill in the art that many changesmay be made to the details of the above-described embodiments withoutdeparting from the underlying principles of the invention. The scope ofthe present invention should, therefore, be determined only by thefollowing claims.

1. A computer-implemented digital media clearinghouse system for anathletic event comprising: (a) a communications component to implementcommunications with the system via a wired or wireless network, thecommunications component arranged to support the media item importinterface and the distribution service; (b) media item importinterfaces, including a spectator interface and a web site interface;(c) the spectator interface arranged to receive digital media itemsuploaded by a user; (d) the web site interface arranged to receivedigital media items imported from a remote web site; (e) a databaseaccess component for accessing an event database, the event databasestoring registration data for each registered participant in the event,wherein the registration data for each participant includes personalidentifying data; (f) an image processing module coupled to the importinterfaces to receive the digital media items and to store the receiveddigital media items and associated metadata in a media item database;(g) the image processing module including or coupled to amachine-recognition component to recognize a human face that appears inthe received media item, and to associate the processed media item witha registrant corresponding to the recognized human face; and (h) adistribution service for generating and distributing digital outputcontent, wherein the distribution service aggregates together mediaitems from all sources that have been recognized as associated with aspecific registrant; (i) wherein said identifying a human face includesacquiring at least one digital image of the face of each registeredparticipant for comparison.
 2. The system according to claim 1 andwherein: the remote web site provides an application programminginterface (API) to enable another system to access user data; and theweb site interface interacts with the API to identify and download thedigital images of the face of the registered participant.
 3. The systemaccording to claim 1 and wherein the remote web site implements adigital media item sharing service.
 4. The system according to claim 3and wherein the sharing service has an account associated with theevent, and the web site interface is arranged to import digital mediaitems associated with the event that were posted to the sharing serviceevent account.
 5. The system according to claim 1 and wherein: theregistration data of a registrant includes the registrant's personallogin credentials for a remote web site where the registrant is a user;and the web site intake interface applies the registrant's logincredentials to access the remote web site, identify media itemsassociated with the event, and to download the identified media itemsassociated with the event from the remote web site.
 6. The systemaccording to claim 5 and wherein the remote web site implements a socialnetworking service of which the registrant is a member, and the digitalmedia items are associated with the event by a label or tag.
 7. Thesystem according to claim 5 and wherein the remote web site or a webpage on the remote web site is itself associated with the event.
 8. Thesystem according to claim 5 and wherein the remote web site or a webpage on the remote web site is itself associated with the registeredparticipant.
 9. A computer-implemented method comprising: electronicallyregistering a participant for a selected event, including storing theparticipant's registration data in a memory, wherein the participant'sregistration data includes credentials for posting digital media itemsto at least one of the participant's personal web site, theparticipant's personal space at a social networking site and theparticipant's personal feed; in an automated server process, searchingsocial networking or media item sharing services and websites on theInternet so as to identify sites that have digital media itemsassociated with the selected event; electronically importing digitalmedia items from at least one of the identified sites, and storing themedia items in a database; wherein the media items comprise digitalaudio, video, and or photo media items; associating each of the storedmedia items with at least one registered participant in the selectedevent; identifying at least one of the stored media items as beingassociated with a selected participant in the selected event.
 10. Themethod according to claim 9 wherein: the output channel comprises theselected participant's personal web site, personal web page, personalspace at a social networking website, or personal feed; the distributingoperation includes applying the participant's login credentials foraccessing the participant's personal web site, personal web page,personal space at a social networking website, or personal outboundsyndication feed; and then automatically posting the aggregated contentto the selected participant's personal web site, personal web page,personal space at a social networking website, or personal feed, onbehalf of the selected participant, so as to enable third parties toaccess and view the posted aggregated content without action by theselected participant.
 11. The method according to claim 9 wherein: thedistributed aggregated content includes at least one of data, text,graphics, media items and URL link types of content.
 12. The methodaccording to claim 9 wherein the distributing operation includes postingmedia items on behalf of a selected participant in the event to a remoteserver that implements a digital media item sharing service.
 13. Themethod according to claim 9 wherein electronically importing digitalmedia items includes: crawling the web to identify web sites that havecontent associated with the event; and importing media items associatedwith the event from at least one of the identified web sites.
 14. Themethod according to claim 9 wherein the system implements an API toenable a user to search for or browse images based on a combination ofany one or more parameters including without limitation participant bibnumber, participant name, elapsed time, course location, and distances.15. The method according to claim 9 wherein said electronicallyimporting digital media items includes: providing a spectator interfaceand a web site interface, for importing digital media items and dataassociated with the event; the spectator interface arranged to receivedigital media items associated with the event uploaded by a user otherthan the participant; and the web site interface arranged to receivedigital media items associated with the event imported from a remote website.
 16. The method according to claim 9 wherein the database comprisesan event database, the event database storing registration data for eachregistered participant in the event, wherein the registration data foreach participant includes personal identifying data and a bib numberthat is unique for the event.
 17. A computer-implemented digital mediaclearinghouse system for an athletic event comprising: (a) acommunications component to implement communications with the system viaa wired or wireless network, the communications component arranged tosupport the media item import interface and the distribution service;(b) media item import interfaces, including a spectator interface and aweb site interface; (c) the spectator interface arranged to receivedigital media items uploaded by a user; (d) the web site interfacearranged to receive digital media items imported from a remote web site;(e) a database access component for accessing an event database, theevent database storing registration data for each registered participantin the event, wherein the registration data for each participantincludes personal identifying data and a bib number that is unique forthe event; (f) an image processing module coupled to the importinterfaces to receive the digital media items and to store the receiveddigital media items and associated metadata in a media item database,wherein the metadata identifies a specific participant in the event; (g)the image processing module configured to associate the processed mediaitem with a specific registrant; and (h) a distribution service forassembling and distributing digital output content, wherein thedistribution service aggregates together media items from all sourcesthat have been recognized as associated with the specific registrant.18. The system of claim 17 wherein the metadata identifies a specificregistered participant in the event.
 19. The system of claim 17 whereinthe distribution service is configured to apply the registeredparticipant's login credentials for accessing the participant's personalweb site, personal web page, personal space at a social networkingwebsite, or personal outbound syndication feed; and then automaticallypost the aggregated content to the selected participant's personal website, personal web page, personal space at a social networking website,or personal feed, on behalf of the selected participant, so as to enablethird parties to access and view the posted aggregated content withoutaction by the selected participant.
 20. The system of claim 17 whereinthe registration data for each participant includes the participant'slogin credentials for accessing at least one of the participant'spersonal web site, personal web page, personal space at a socialnetworking website, or personal outbound syndication feed.